NEW YORK, New York - With a total 7.07 billion shares traded on Friday, U.S. stock exchanges were light on volume of transactions, but the gains were substantial.

Optimism about the outcome of current U.S.-China trade talks drove sentinment.

"This may be just false hope with the tariff situation as thorny details still need to be agreed upon," David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York was quoted by Reuters Thomson as saying. "It's good news but its not over yet."

"Solving the trade issue could give global growth the boost it needs," he added. "Absent a tariff solution, growth will continue to slow."

At the close of trading Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 443.86 points or 1.74% at 25,883.25.